Review Summary
Expert Rating 3.5/5
Xiaomi recently unveiled the newest gadgets in its iconic Redmi Note family, which has long been the standard against which inexpensive smartphones are measured. There are three new phones from that firm on the market right now: the Redmi Note 11, Note 11T (review), and Note 11S. All phones, at least in terms of specifications, demonstrate Xiaomi's commitment to making waves in the inexpensive area. I'm carrying the Redmi Note 11S, a 4G phone with decent enough hardware to deserve a second look.
With practically all OEMs jumping into the 5G race, I think a 5G version of the device isn't far off, but for the time being, I'm evaluating the ordinary Redmi Note 11S, which starts at Rs 16,499. Let's see how it compares against the competition.
The lowdown
Redmi's talent for creating visually appealing devices is well renowned in the industry. In fact, the preceding Redmi Note 10 (review) series captivated me in terms of in-hand feel as well as overall visual appeal. The Note 11S takes the best design elements from its predecessor, such as the all-matte surface on the rear. The edges softly slope downwards to meet the rails, which are likewise covered with the same matte finish and give a comfortable grip for my hand.
The Note 11S doesn't have an externally showy design, which is exactly how I want it, clean and simple, but this is certainly a question of personal preference. There are three colour options available: Polar White, Horizon Blue, and Space Black. Except for the large camera module on the top-right, which is reminiscent of prior Note 10 devices, the rear panel remains unbroken.
The housing underneath, which incorporates three smaller cameras and a flash unit, is dominated by a huge main sensor. Surprisingly, even with a 5,000mAh battery inside, the Note 11S weighs only 179g and is evenly distributed throughout the chassis. Xiaomi continues to position the 3.5mm headphone port on the top of the phone, which is an unusual placement.
Speaking of which, the IR blaster is also present on the phone's top, while the bottom has a USB C connector and a speaker grille that serves as an earpiece for stereo sound. The fingerprint sensor is built into the power button on the side, and the tactile volume rocker button is slightly above it.
The Redmi Note 11S has a 6.43-inch AMOLED display with a refresh rate of 90Hz and a touch sampling rate of 180Hz. Xiaomi has been in the forefront of developing cheap OLED-packed smartphones, a legacy that the Redmi Note 11S continues. Even to a novice's eyes, the Note 11S' panel is tuned to exhibit a broad spectrum of colours and is more vibrant than any LCD panel in the price range.
Aside from that, the visual palette may be readily customised to the user's preference, and the 90Hz display doesn't lose a beat in terms of smoothness. The Redmi Note 11S' display, with a max brightness of 1000nits, will not be an issue when seen in direct sunlight. Unlike the Redmi Note 10, the Note 11S does not support HDR10, instead relying on a standard WideVine L1 certification for HD content on OTT sites. Finally, there is a little punch-hole at the top that does not interfere with the display, despite the fact that the chin at the panel's bottom is notably large.
Cameras on Redmi Note series phones have improved exponentially in the previous several years, and the Note 11S boasts a 108MP main sensor to accomplish the most of its picture capturing job. The Note 11S, like most phones, performs well in bright light, catching plenty of details and giving a wide dynamic range.
While the gadget has a tendency to overexpose dark portions of the frame, with varied effects, it manages to keep the exposure under control under strong sunshine. The colour temperatures, on the other hand, favour a colder appearance than natural. Graininess is practically invisible in details, although there are minor anomalies in high texture backdrops. Colors are oversaturated due to the AI camera characteristics. The ordinary photographs are pixel-binned down to 12MP, but the 108MP UHD mode provides more detailed shots. However, this takes a long time to process.
In low light, the sensor falters while attempting to capture details of the subject, causing the exposure to go haywire. There is also significant shutter lag while shooting photos, which causes some blurring. When utilising the dedicated night mode, I also discovered that the focus is not always locked.
When compared to a conventional wide-angle sensor, ultra-wide photos are twisted around the edges but have a considerably more balanced colour temperature. The other two sensors are a 2MP macro shooter and a 2MP depth camera, both of which aren't particularly good when the lighting around the subject is less than optimal. Finally, there is a front-facing selfie camera with a resolution of 16MP. The photographs captured by it are laced with a little of face oversharpening, and the skin tones are a bit fairer than normal, but overall, the selfies are rather decent.
The device's processing demands are met by the dependable MediaTek G96 SoC. At Rs 16,499, there are a few competitors that potentially provide superior performance, such as the Dimensity 810-powered Redmi Note 11T, which is priced similarly. Having saying that, the Note 11S will not disappoint you when it comes to routine day-to-day chores.
In more demanding tasks, such as BGMI, the phone manages the Ultra (45fps) option, which operates with a maximum of Balanced graphics. I wouldn't, however, exaggerate the phone's capabilities. In terms of RAM and storage, the model I have has 6GB of LPDDR4X RAM that can borrow 2GB from the device's 128GB of UFS 2.2 internal storage. Aside from that, the phone includes an external microSD card slot that can hold up to 1TB of additional storage.
The Note 11S is outfitted with a dual speaker design that sounds fantastic and is readily audible across a noisy room. Even the 3.5mm headphone port has Hi-res audio certification for wired earphones/headphones that are compatible. The fingerprint sensor is as quick as it has always been, but facial recognition requires some fine-tuning for low-light conditions. The device's 4G LTE speeds were mostly reasonable while connected to Noida's Jio network, and the microphone and earpiece performed as expected.
When it comes to software, the Redmi Note 11S runs MIUI 13.0.5, which is based on Android 11. Xiaomi is expected to offer an Android 12 upgrade shortly. I noticed that programme switching occurs vertically rather than horizontally in the current design, which takes some getting accustomed to.
There is the usual preinstalled junk, but happily, most of it can be deleted. Aside from that, the UI is fairly intuitive and enjoyable to experiment with, especially if you want customizability in terms of themes, icons, and so on. In terms of utility utilisation, MIUI 13 has a sidebar that can be accessed with a single swipe and provides a list of apps that may be started fast.
The control panel has also been redesigned, with bigger icons and improved notification grouping. You may also revert to the previous version by making a few changes in the options menu. Glance has been added to the device's lock screen to keep you up to date with snippets of information about current events in an Instagram Story-like fashion. This covers areas such as news, gaming, entertainment, fashion, travel, and fitness, which you may pick and choose according to your tastes.
A 5,000mAh battery powers the Redmi Note 11S and lasts all day with enough juice left over for the next day. This is not a long-lasting gadget, but it will do the job on a single charge. In any event, the included 33W charger can charge the battery to 100 percent in around 90 minutes.
The final word
The Redmi Note 11S is a compelling product that, in my opinion, more than justifies its Rs 16,499 price tag. The design is sleek, the display is stunning, and the performance is adequate. However, I believe Redmi should have improved its photography algorithms to capture better low-light images. Furthermore, the UI has bloatware in the form of Mi-branded applications, and the phone still runs on the outdated Android 11. If you are prepared to ignore these minor shortcomings and are not interested in intense gaming, I believe the Redmi Note 11S is a very nice alternative.
Pros:
- Outstanding display
- Excellent design
- Good performance
Cons:
- Photography in low light might be enhanced.
- Android 12 is not available.
